Resilience of Armed Forces and Armed Security Corps towards Hybrid Threats (VJ01010122, 2021-2025)
About the Project
Resilience has become a buzzword in relation to many areas, from hybrid threats to climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, or Russian and Chinese subversive operations. It implies accommodating the idea that certain threats cannot be prevented or eliminated altogether; instead, we need to learn how to deter, confront, and absorb them without any significant damage to the constituent elements and values of our society – hence, how to become more resilient. The need for academic research in this area and the need to enhance the resilience of the state security forces led to the initiation of a project in 2021 titled “Resilience of Armed Forces and Armed Security Corps towards Hybrid Threats.” This project has been funded by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, and its resolution is planned by the end of 2025. The project focuses on both the armed security corps (e.g., the Police of the Czech Republic, Prison Service, Judicial Guard, etc.) and the armed forces of the Czech Republic, which are predominantly represented by the Czech Armed Forces (the army).
Main Goal
The stated goal of this project is to explore and analyze the resiliency of the Czech armed forces and armed security corps to various elements of an adversarial hybrid campaign. Adversaries of Western nations use hybrid strategies to further their antagonistic interests and foreign policy goals. These target not only citizens, political and other elites, but also members of the armed security forces and corps (and their families). To this end, a specific tool to evaluate the resiliency of national armed security forces will be developed. The project will ultimately identify vulnerabilities of the security armed forces to hybrid strategies and propose measures to enhance their resilience, as well as that of their members, through targeted education and training.
Basic Information
Centrální evidence projektů (in Czech only)
Provider
Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic
Guarantors
General Inspectorate of Security Forces of the Czech Republic
Research Teams
The main research team is from the Faculty of Social Studies of the Masaryk University in Brno, focusing on the security corps. The application guarantor, who will use the results in practice, is the General Inspectorate of Security Forces of the Czech Republic. The secondary team consists of members mainly from the Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies and other researchers from the University of Defence, focusing on the resilience of the Czech Armed Forces. The application guarantor is one of the strategic commands of the Czech Armed Forces – the Cyber Forces Command.
Masaryk University / Faculty of Social Sciences (main research team)
Josef Kraus (project manager and main research team leader), ORCID: 0000-0002-5720-1415
Robin Burda, ORCID: 0000-0001-8310-8663
Jakub Drmola, ORCID: 0000-0003-4275-2115
Jan Kleiner, ORCID: 0000-0001-9950-410X
Miroslav Mareš, ORCID: 0000-0002-7102-3205
Miriam Matejová, ORCID: 0000-0003-4943-2835
Petra Mlejnková, ORCID: 0000-0002-4430-6269
Ministry of Defence / University of Defence (secondary research team)
Libor Frank (secondary team leader), ORCID: 0000-0002-2905-2563
Vladimír Bízik, ORCID: 0000-0002-5845-9012
Jan Břeň, ORCID: 0000-0003-1565-4050
Vendula Divišová, ORCID: 0000-0003-2038-8375
Petr Hrůza, ORCID: 0000-0002-1557-8441
Dominika Kosárová, ORCID: 0000-0002-9492-8373
Markéta Licková, ORCID: 0009-0002-3558-0095
Antonín Novotný, ORCID: 0000-0002-6574-2940
Miroslava Pačková, ORCID: 0000-0002-0539-2571
Adam Potočňák, ORCID: 0000-0001-7120-2230
Dalibor Procházka, ORCID: 0000-0002-6601-0012
Richard Stojar, ORCID: 0000-0003-2390-5788
What does the resilience of armed forces and armed security corps towards hybrid interference mean?
For that purpose, we need to delimit the meaning of hybrid interference (the resilience towards what) as well as to specify the constituent elements of the armed forces and security corps as the entity to be protected (resilience of what). Since resilience is inherently a multi-dimensional concept, we will differentiate between different types and levels of resilience. As for the types, the theory recognizes “hard” (or physical/technical) and “soft” resilience. The project focuses precisely on the latter concept of soft resilience, which is further categorized in the literature into psychological, institutional, social, and national resilience.
We offer a working definition of resilience towards hybrid interference as the capacity of the military/security to fulfil its core mission enabled by physical and moral components of the (fighting) power and to continually transform and adapt in the face of external hostile influence targeting the perception and decision-making of their members and leadership.
Overall, resilience against hybrid interference is a crucial element that ensures the armed forces and armed security corps can fulfil their mission, it means, effectively protect the country both in times of peace and during conflicts and adapt to a dynamic and complex security environment. Or, in other words, our goal is to ensure that their members are always loyal, motivated, and ready to follow orders, regardless of disruptive influences and hostile or harmful activities.
Phases of the Project
Our project is carried out in several phases:
Phase 1 – focused on a comprehensive examination of the resilience of the Czech Armed Forces and armed security corps as significant parts of the national security system, including identifying vulnerabilities of members of these forces to hybrid interference from both state and non-state actors.
Phase 2 – focused on operationalizing the concept of resilience towards hybrid interference and creating a tool for assessing the resilience of the armed forces and corps against hybrid interference.
Phase 3 will lead to proposing measures to mitigate vulnerabilities and enhance the resilience of these forces.
The main outputs of the project will likely be the proposal of specific adjustments, recommendations, or the introduction of updated forms of military or police training and education.
The project's results are continuously published in professional articles in journals indexed in the Web of Science database, presented at conferences, periodically discussed with the application guarantors (at least 3 times a year), and presented once or twice a year at special workshops for the Czech security community.
Published Articles
Divišová, Vendula, Libor Frank, Jan Hanzelka, Antonín Novotný, and Jan Břeň. 2021. “The Whole is Greater than the Sum of the Parts: Towards Developing a Multidimensional Concept of Armed Forces' Resilience Towards Hybrid Interference.” Obrana a strategie 21 (2): 3-20. https://doi.org/10.3849/1802-7199.21.2021.02.003-020.
Drmola, Jakub, and Tomáš Hubík. 2021. “Stochastic Modeling of Non-linear Terrorism Dynamics.” Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management 18 (3): 251-281. https://doi.org/10.1515/jhsem-2020-0029.
Bízik, Vladimír, Dominika Kosárová, Adam Potočňák, and Richard Stojar. 2022. “Hybrid Interference: From the Particular to a Continuum. Empirical Test of the Multi-Dimensional Concept of “Hybrid”.” Obrana a strategie 22 (1): 75-88. https://doi.org/10.3849/1802-7199.22.2022.01.075-088.
Mareš, Miroslav, Josef Kraus, and Jakub Drmola. 2022. “Conceptualisation of Hybrid Interference in the Czech Republic: How to Make it a Practically Researchable Phenomenon?” Politics in Central Europe 18 (3): 343-354. https://doi.org/10.2478/pce-2022-0015.
Divišová, Vendula, Libor Frank, Vladimír Bízik, and Antonín Novotný. 2023. “A Resilient Soldier, a Resilient State: A Tool for Measuring Czech Armed Forces´ Resilience Against Hybrid Interference.” Obrana a strategie 23 (1): 173-191. https://doi.org/10.3849/1802-7199.23.2023.01.173-191.
Briggs, Chad M., and Miriam Matejova. 2023. “Hybrid Warfare in Ukraine and its Impact on Climate Politics.” Czech Journal of International Relations 58 (2): 149-164. https://doi.org/10.32422/cjir.745.
Matejová, Miriam, Jakub Drmola, and Peter Spáč. 2024. “Measuring the Effectiveness of Counter-Disinformation Strategies in the Czech Security Forces.” European Security, June, 1-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2024.2362153.
Dominika Kosárová, Vladimír Bízik, and Adam Potočňák. 2024. “Cognitive Resilience: Assessing Critical Factors in Military Personnel” Obrana a strategie 24 (2): 133-156. https://doi.org/10.3849/1802-7199.24.2024.02.133-156.
Conference Proceedings
Mareš, Miroslav. 2023. “Česká republika v hybridní válce: Bilance a perspektivy (Czech Republic in Hybrid War : Evaluation and Perspectives).” In Region v rozvoji společnosti 2023: Sborník příspěvků z 11. mezinárodní vědecké konference (Region in the Development of Society 2023: Proceedings of the 11th International Scientific Conference), edited by Josef Smolík, 69-74. Brno: Mendel University in Brno. https://doi.org/10.11118/978-80-7509-957-0-0069.
Kosárová, Dominika and Novotný, Antonín. 2024. “Czech Armed Forces and Hybrid Interference: Concepts and Methods of Evaluating Resilience.” In 17th Annual International Scientific Conference February 7th-8th, 2024 at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, Conference Proceedings. Banská Bystrica: Interpolis, 2024.
Frank, Libor. 2024. “Assessing the Resilience of the Czech Armed Forces to Hybrid Threats.” In IX. International Conference "Defence & Strategy 2024. University of Defence, Brno, Czech Republic, 30.5.2024.
Pačková, Miroslava, Josef Kraus, Miroslav Mareš, and Libor Frank. 2024. “Resilience ozbrojených si a ozbrojených bezpečnostních sborů vůči hybridním hrozbám (Resilience of Armed Forces and Armed Security Corps to Hybrid Threats).” In HybCon 2024. Ministry of Defence, Měřín, Czech Republic, 19.06.2024.
Workshops
"Konceptualizace odolnosti a hybridní strategie" ("The Conceptualization of Resilience and Hybrid Strategies"). University of Defence, Brno, Czech Republic. 10.12.2021. https://tinyurl.com/yc8n9277.
"Nástroje hodnocení odolnosti" ("Resilience Assessment Tools"). University of Defence, Brno, Czech Republic. 17.6.2022. https://tinyurl.com/bdhtabzd.
"Odolnost ozbrojených sil a ozbrojených bezpečnostních sborů" ("Resilience of Armed Forces and Armed Security Corps"). University of Defence, Brno, Czech Republic. 15.12.2023. https://tinyurl.com/tsewnb8x.
"Posilování odolnosti, doporučení pro vzdělávání a výcvik" ("Strengthening Resilience: Recommendations for Education and Training"). University of Defence, Brno, Czech Republic. 11.12.2024.
